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Saturday, March 30, 2013

I recently had the opportunity to put some rounds through a Glock 21. I had never given much consideration to .45 ACP Glocks. I don't typically buy into the "bigger is better" line of thought when it comes to wound ballistics...and I still don't. But I do buy into the "if it shoots better, it shoots better" line of thought. I have a lot of time behind .40 S&W handguns, it has just always been what I ended up shooting. I have a marginal amount of time behind 9mm handguns, and I like them well enough but I could always source more .40 S&W than I could 9mm, so I stuck with .40. Just through happen stance I got my hands on Gen2 Glock 21. The original intent was to do a series of post on modifying the Glock, and thought the Glock 21 would make a good host. Before I did anything, I shot it, and decided I liked it. My splits on the 21 are running in the low 0.20's on a USPSA A-zone at 7 yards. Best I can usually do with a Glock 22 is mid to high 0.20's. My 9mm times run in the low 0.20's and high teens. In all honesty, it caught me completely off guard to shoot the .45 that fast. I thought it would be the opposite. But it is what it is. Might just mean the demise of my .40 cal. handguns. Plus, I can actually find .45 ammo right now.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

A while back I was approached by someone about some basic tips for handgun shooting and wrote up a quick "how to" on gripping a handgun, or at least how I grip a handgun. Step
one of building my grip is acquiring a high, master grip with the shooting
hand. The web of my hand between the thumb and forefinger is pressed
into the rear tang/beaver tail of the handgun. The goal here is to get my hand
as high on the gun as possible to limit the amount of leverage the
reciprocating slide has over my grip. For handguns with slide mounted safeties
(i.e. 1911, etc.), my shooting hand thumb rest on top of the
safety. This helps to properly position the hand, as well as ensures that the
safety is disengaged during the draw stroke, and remains disengaged throughout
the firing cycle.

When initially establishing my grip, before the support
hand has come to meet the gun, my shooting hand thumb remains flagged in
an up position. This allows access to where the support hand needs to go in
order to maximize contact with the firearm. If the thumb is folded down, or not
raised high enough, it will block access to this area, or end up under the
support hand. When
bringing the support hand to the gun, I use the top of my index finger as a physical
indexing point on the trigger guard. By using a physical, repeatable index it
allows me to have consistency in establishing my grip and make any necessary
adjustments early in the gripping process. Once
the index is acquired and confirmed, the support had is folded into the grip.
The support hand thumb points forward, along the side of the slide, and the
“meat” of the support hand at the base of the thumb is pressed into the side of
the grip by the clamping force of the fingers. The majority of the gripping
force on the gun comes from this hand when shooting for maximum accuracy.
That allows my muscles in the shooting hand to relax slightly, which permits
greater motor control over the trigger finger. This especially applies to the
shooting hand thumb. I have found that keeping the shooting hand thumb loose will have a direct effect on the amount of control I have with my
trigger finger.As
my support hand is folded into the grip, the support hand fingers wrap around
the gun under the trigger guard. This completes the grip on the handgun. To
further solidify the grip, my elbows are rotated up slightly while keeping the
wrist locked and applying rotational torque. This creates a lateral pressure on
the grip of the handgun and further enhances my recoil control. It isn't a very noticeable change from the outside looking in, but this was one of the break through moments for my handgun control when I started doing this.